Ahmedabad: Civic body official takes litterer to task

At least one person in Ahmedabad will never throw any litter for the rest of his life. This person was caught by a senior AMC official throwing waste in the Kharicut canal, who forced him to remove the waste from the canal with his own hands.

As a part of the ongoing Sujalam Sufalam Jal Sanchay Yojana, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has undertaken cleaning of the 20-km Kharicut canal on a near-mission mode for the last three weeks and removed thousands of tonnes of waste from the canal. The civic body has also warned locals not to dump trash in the canal.

In a video that went viral late on Wednesday evening, Harshadray Solanki, director of Solid Waste Management in AMC, is seen taking to task a person whom he caught throwing a trash bag in the canal at Vatva. An irked Solanki is seen angrily asking the man, who identified himself as Ashok Mehta, to step into the canal, and to remove the trash he had dumped.

After lengthy arguments, which included the AMC official threatening to slap Mehta, slapping a fine of Rs5,000 on him, and threatening to book him and sending him to jail for six months, the offender is seen climbing down into the canal, and removing the trash bag with the help of another person. A large number of locals, who had gathered at the scene, are heard cheering the 'action'.

"Our people are working very hard to clean the canal, but many people do not seem to realise this. I hope this incident will be a lesson to others," Solanki, who is believed to be in the reckoning for the post of deputy commissioner at AMC, told DNA.

PEOPLE TO DECIDE

In a video that went viral late on Wednesday evening, Harshadray Solanki, director of Solid Waste Management in AMC, is seen taking to task a person whom he caught throwing a trash bag in the canal at Vatva.